Round Six
My Predictions for the round are:
Hurricanes 22 v 28 Bulls
Highlanders 47 v 17 Cheetahs
Chiefs 24 v 22 Blues
Waratahs 24 v 21 Crusaders
Force 17 v 20 Sharks
Lions 15 v 19 Brumbies
What say you lads?
Round 6 winners:Canes,Highlanders,Blues,Horrortahs,Sharks,Brumbies.
The Bulls will have it in the forwards and the Canes in the backs…this should mean a Bulls win.I dont care,I’m biased.Chiefs v Blues should be a great game and could go either way.
Aren’t we all??? The game could go either way, and being a home game for the 'Canes I’d tip them to win. I just said Bulls, because…well…I’m biased, also. 
Gonna go to work soon and watch the game when I get home tonight. I think it’s going to be a cracker with some good tries.
Well done Bulls 
Once again Canes are their own worst enemy.Canes played stupid rugby and seemed to think they were playing SA S14 teams circa 1998 i.e.just run the big forwards round til they get tired and then run in the tries.Guys like Bakkies and Spies could keep running and tackling all day if you asked them too.Bulls had a simple game plan,stuck to it and deserved the win. Canes forwards have mastered the art of playing as individuals,esp on attack.How many times did one of the tight five take the ball up,get isolated and turn the ball over??
Not sure what to say about the reffing display.At first I wanted his head to explode.Free kicks,penalties and cards all over the place.In hindsight, I think that a lot of the calls were justified.Rugby is a game for cheats (so many rules to be broken) and both teams were infringing in every aspect of play.I’d certainly not be willing to say that the ref helped the Bulls win.If this sort of pendantic reffing could scare the players enough to clean up the breakdown,scrums and offside line then more power to the men with the whistle I say.
I hate to admit it.I can feel a widening pit in my stomach.Maybe the Blues are NZs only hope for a semifinal berth (away from home of course).I just threw up in my mouth.Good night.
Gritty display from my beloved Bulls! :bravo: Not too shabby from the vile Stormers either. Sharks: :raspberry: . Not enough Mighty Elephants in that team…
Mate, they did have a simple game plan, but I think their defence was pretty good, too. except for the two tries (which were actually rather “soft” tries after all the defence that preceded them) they let through. I don’t think the Canes played that badly, I just think the ref ruined the game to the extent that the forwrds didn’t know what the hell they were allowed to do!
Nonu had a surprisingly bad game, apart from one or two good runs, and Hosea Gear hardly featured at all. Oddly, the Bulls backs, except for Morne Steyn and Akona Ndugane didn’t get much ball either. The one time they did, JP Nel scored.
Well, with a red card and more than 30 minutes left to play I thought we were done. But it was odd that the Bulls actually played better with Deon Stegman off the field.
The reffing was really crap, and I think that the game could’ve been much more open if he didn’t blow the life out of it.
Murray wasn’t impressed either!
He blew the infringements correctly, but he was way too free with the yellow.
I wouldn’t write the Canes or the Chiefs off just yet. The Bulls made the Reds and the Blues (albeit without some key players) look very average at Loftus, but both teams have shown since that they are anything but!
As Murray would say, there’s still a lot of rugby to be played.
2 from 6 this week 
Very lame,even by my poor standards.Great to watch the Saders win in Sydney,gutsy effort without their leading players.I’m not a big Saders fan,but I loathe the Tahs.I just d/led the Blues v Chiefs game and I’ve heard it was a cracker.Not at all surprised to see the Sharks bounce back from last week poor performance…Steyn is really coming along (like his namesake in the cricket).
Wow!! What a game of footy.Chiefs absolutely monstered the Blues (who didnt play that badly).Mark Lawerence (sp?) reffed the game exceptionally well and the players really turned on a show.This was the most entertaining game I’ve seen in a long time.The kind of game I’d use to try to lure non rugby fans into the fold.Bismarck, you should check this one out,truly beautiful sport.It was like 80 mins of a highlight reel.On this game alone I would happily pick an AB 15 to take on anyone in the world.In the last week I’ve watched Tendulkar score an ODI ton and a test 150 and this game was every much as BEAUTIFUL!!! 
Hope you blokes dont think I’m to OTT.
[quote=“bismarck”]Round Six
My Predictions for the round are:
Hurricanes 22 v 28 Bulls
Highlanders 47 v 17 Cheetahs
Chiefs 24 v 22 Blues
Waratahs 24 v 21 Crusaders
Force 17 v 20 Sharks
Lions 15 v 19 Brumbies
What say you lads?[/quote]
Sheesh, it was a great weekend’s rugby. Results:
Hurricanes 14 Bulls 19 (Bit off the score, but got the winner and the margin about right.)
Highlanders 32 Cheetahs 8 (No surprise)
Chiefs 63 Blues 34 (Got the winner, but not the margin!! Not by a long shot!)
Waratahs 13 Crusaders 17 (Close, as I thought, but didn’t expect the Saders to pull off a win.)
Western Force 10 Sharks 22 (Close.)
Lions 25 Brumbies 17 (Who would’ve thought??)
Demented Ozzie ref Matt ‘look at me’ Goddard has been dropped for this weeks round :bravo: That’ll learn 'em for calling Bakkies out on having gigantic ears :roflmao:
My winners for Week 7:Blues,Bulls,Saders,Chiefs,Sharks,Canes.
With all the talent the Tahs have why don’t they play rugby??
Bulls too big for the Highlanders.
Saders don’t drop too many at home.
Chiefs to sneak home in a high scoring game.
I still think the Shorkies have the best 22 in the comp.
Canes to bounce back from last weeks game…but only just.
I’m a bit late and a little lazy, so I’ll just put down what I said on Superbru.
Blues by 10
Bulls by 15
Crusaders by 5
Reds by 7
Sharks by 6
Hurricanes by 10
But looking at the Blues vs Waratahs game so far, looks like I’m wrong on that on.
Looks like they’re playing today! I think the Blues are proving too weak in defense.
Yeah but it was by the opposing teams
Oh dear. My beloved Bulls were hopelessly gored. 
Yeah but it was by the opposing teams[/quote]
Yeah, I was wrong on both counts.
But luckily the bulls still have a game in hand. Hahahahaha! 
Who would 'ave thunk it.The lowly 'landers taking out the Bulls in convincing fashion.I spent many a cold afternoon at the ‘house of pain’ supporting the likes of Timu,Wilson and Randall in the mid to late 90’s.This game was not ‘officially’ a home game for the southern lads,but they were good enough to put away the table-topping Bulls.The game was played in Palmerston North and not at the Brook.Otago Uni Scarfies will be gutted at having missed burning their respective couches at this tremendous upset.With the Tahs also losing ( in a snoozefest) yesterday this certainly opens up the comp to a lot of teams that have had slow starts. :bravo: The mighty Chiefs showed what a destructive team they are offensively against the Reds (unfortunately they also leaked toooooooo many points for a second week).Against the big Saffer packs you can’t leak points even when you are scoring plenty.I’m looking forward to the Sharks game later tonite…they seem the ‘real deal’.Not that the Bulls aren’t.Outside of '07 ( when Uncle Ted (HENRY) rested ABs) this is the most open S14 comp in years.
The way I see it is that the Shorks have a lot of home games to come…simple huh.Bulls, chiefs, canes are on the road.SIMPLE!
I’ve always wondered about home advantage. Sure, your crowd screeching for you and baying for the blood of your opponents must give some advantage, but in these times of super professionalism, surely that factor is minimalised? It seems strange to me how rugby and football (soccer for the uneducated) players do not travel well.
Cricketers, on the other hand, seem to be relatively immune to the intimidation of a home crowd. No doubt, home field advantage is usually slanted by the pitch preparation of the local groundspeople, but as a rule, cricketers seem to be better travelers than their rugby and football contemporaries. Perhaps the game duration is a factor?
Doctored pitches and incredibly biased umpires have been consigned to the past I hope. Cricket used to be a joke for touring teams.Groundskeepers used to do everything they could to help the home team.Umpires were even worse!!Presently with rugby,I’d rather have SA refs than incompetent NZ/Aust ‘impartial’ refs officiating all rugby games.I remember my father going off his ‘nut’ at Saffer refs ‘cheating’ during NZ tours of the Republic back in the day.With the inception of Super rugby and the tedium of Tri Nations I think NZ and OZ teams have gotten used to the travel and playing at altitude.Perhaps this isnt what you are getting at Jimi,but I agree that home advantage isnt what it used to be.
I’ve added a poll to my rugby blog. Go check it out and leave a vote. Cheers!
Watson is an absolute prat…has an occasional touch of class,but generally is a selfish and inconsistent player.
ELVs:I have hated the fact that there have been three or four different sets of laws being trialled in different comps in different parts of the world :loco: The Blazer Brigade have obviously been partaking in way too many gin and tonics.I’m surprised at how many of the ELVs seem set to continue.I have especially liked the 5m back from the scrum, the no pass back into the 22 and the ease at which quick throw ins are taken.The crouch, touch, pause, take a shower and finally engage has been bullshit and has caused endless reset scrums.I cant believe that the IRB are going cut the defensive teams ability to pull down mauls.What are you supposed to do if a big forward pack gets a march on with the ball comfortably protected at the back???
My views on how to improve the game are,keeping the ball in play longer,cleaning up the break down and generally simplifying the rules for all those involved.WHY oh why can’t rucking be brought back into the game.I’m not talking about stomping on the ground,I’m talking about raking players off the ball as you are going forward.Our game has been over sanitized and it makes my blood boil :fume: Rant over.